In a statement in Sri Lanka's parliament, highlighting the 30th year anniversary of Black July, the TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran, spoke of his own experiences during Black July when he was shipped to the North for his safety by the state, asserting that it was the actions of successive governments that had confirmed the North and the East as the homeland of the Tamils.

He said:

"We ourselves took shelter in a Muslim house nearby, who gave us shelter, and subsequently, Sinhalese friends, kept us in their house for four days and we were put in a ship and transported to Jaffna.

That was the second such incident in my life. The first being, in the year '77, when there was violence unleashed against Tamils in Colombo. Then too, I was transported that time by air, from Ratmalana airport to Palali, by the government of Sri Lanka.

So twice in my student days I was taken away from the capital city, once by air and once by ship, totally at the cost of the government of Sri Lanka, to the North. The government being unable to protect me, in its own capital, thought that I'd be safe in my home, and sent me to my homeland.

When people use the phrase homeland, there is a lot of issues that are raised. How can you say that is your homeland, but for me, having grown up in the cosmopolitan city here, the capital of this country, that was an acknowledgement by governments at two different times, that this was not my home. That my home, was in the North. That it was in my homeland that I would be safe.

So I did not say it then, but the Sri Lankan government said that was my homeland and sent me there for my safety. Many others were sent to the East likewise.

That is how the fact that the North and the East is our homeland, came to confirmed, even by successive governments in Colombo."